


That's the Spirit Writing Challenge

by perpetuallydreaming



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dean Winchester Takes Care of You, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Dean Winchester
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-14
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:28:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806020
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetuallydreaming/pseuds/perpetuallydreaming
Summary: This piece is unedited and does not have a beta, therefore there will be small gramatical errors, bear with me.





	That's the Spirit Writing Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> This piece is unedited and does not have a beta, therefore there will be small gramatical errors, bear with me.

“So why are we going to Maine?” I pipe up from the back seat.

“Well sleeping beauty, Bobby called, apparently a contact of his in Maine asked him if he knew of any hunters who could swing by the area and check things out. Bobby knew we were already in Virginia and therefore the closest and best hunters for the job.” Dean replied to me.

“Bobby said his buddy told him too many people have gone missing in the same area for it to be anything but supernatural and that he owed this guy one from back in the day and the guy has good instinct.” Sam added, his nose in a book.

“So how much longer ‘til we hit Maine then?” I ask.

“About five hours, you were passed out cold there for a bit.” Dean spoke up again.

“Well one of us has to get some beauty sleep in order to mingle with people to get information.” I sassed at him. 

Dean cracked a smile at my response that I saw through the review mirror. 

“So, do we get to meet with this buddy of Bobby’s?” I ask.

“We’re meeting up with him at a diner once we get there.”

“Okie dokie then.” I say as I pull out my headphones and plug them into my phone so I could listen to music and try to get my head in the game. I could tell that I was distracted, distractions lead to mistakes, and mistakes can mean life or death. If it were only my ass on the line I wouldn’t feel as much pressure about it, but I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if Sam or Dean got hurt, or worse killed, because of me. There was enough blood on my hands... What doesn't destroy you, leaves you broken instead.

Walking into diner, I could immediately spot Bobby’s friend. On my game or not, I know a hunter, or ex hunter when I see one. He was the same height and build as Bobby, but his hair had more salt and pepper to it, and he had a long scar on his cheek.

“You must be the hunters Bobby sent up, you’re exactly how he described.”

“Thanks, I think.” I say with a half-smile, and the older man chuckles.

“Yes, it’s a good thing, sit, have a seat. M’names Marvin, helped Bobby out back in the day. I’d look into this myself but I’ve been out of the game for a while, mainly just help out other hunters with information on how to get the job done.”

“Well, what makes you think this is supernatural, besides disappearances I mean.” I asked Marvin, happy that he could get out and live to tell the tale.

“These parts of Maine, it’s not normal to get as many disappearances as this, and they are always at night, never during the day. And just yesterday there was a group of 3 kids that had gone camping, only two of them came back, word is they say their buddies were taken away in the night by a monster. That’s what made me call Bobby, I had been keeping an eye on it, hoping it was just bad luck, lost campers, but once I heard that I had to have it checked out.” Marvin spoke softly.

“How long has this been going on for?” Sam questioned.

“Since they opened up a new campground about two weeks ago. The land used to be owned by the state but there was no trespassing, on rare occasion a trespasser would either get lost, but most assumed they were just that, lost, maybe attacked by a wild animal after they hadn’t turned up, but every night someone goes up there, someone doesn’t come back.”

“Well sounds like we need to make a visit to those kids, and find out more about this campground.” Dean spoke up.

Back in the Impala Dean’s driving to a motel to check in and freshen up, Sam’s looking in their dad’s journal with what little information we have in order to get some ideas in mind, and I’m in the back trying to ignore the hole in my soul growing deeper. I didn’t even notice we were pulled in front of the motel until Dean gently shook my shoulder while calling my name to get my attention.

“Huh, what, sorry.” I mumble out getting out and taking my duffle that Dean had in his hand. If I wouldn’t have kept my head down maybe I would have noticed the concerned look that crossed Dean’s face. I walk up to the room with the door cracked open and head towards the couch to set my duffle down and shake myself out of my thoughts. I sit down on the couch and hug my knees to my chest.

“So, what’s the game plan?” I ask the boys as Dean shuts the door behind him.

“I figured we change into suits and two of us go to interview the kids and the other goes and finds out more information about this new campground.”

“I’ll investigate the campground.” Sam answered.

“That leaves us with interviewing.” Dean said to me.

“Dibs on bathroom!” I exclaimed jumping up to get to the bathroom first.

Back in the Impala, we’re on our way to interview the two kids Marvin mentioned earlier. 

“So, the two kids are 21 and 19, high school sweethearts, presumably shared the same tent then because of that, and their names are Ethan and Melanie. Then there’s James King, also 21, and he was in a separate tent just a few feet away.” I tell Dean after getting off the phone with the park rangers to get the information. 

“And this is where Ethan lives according to the park rangers.” Dean replies pulling up to the house.

“Alright, let’s do this.” I say getting out of the car. I walk across the street and up to the door, giving it a loud and quick knock. A tall guy, about 6’, athletic build, and dark brown hair answers the door.

“Ethan Stangly?” I ask questioningly, although sure he’s the guy I’m looking for.  
“Yes ma’am, and you are?”

“I’m Agent Matthews and this is Agent Fogerty. We’re investigating the disappearance of your friend James. We were hoping to ask you a few questions.” I told him.

“Mind if we come in?”

“Uhm, yeah, sure, this way.” Ethan directs us towards the living room. After he offers us a drink we all sit down to begin talking.

“Has James been camping before?” I begin.

“Yeah, he was actually really excited about the new campground, it was our first night there, but he’s been camping plant of times elsewhere.”

“Did James have any enemies?” Dean jumped in.

“No way, he was the nicest guy around.”

“Did you notice anything strange before his disappearance, him, your surroundings, anything?” I ask.

“James was his normal self, just stoked about the new camping grounds, and the only thing that seemed out of the ordinary I noticed was this ball of light. I woke up and noticed this light and figured it was just his flashlight and he woke up to go to take a leak or something and I fell back asleep. Then I woke up not long after and heard this gnawing sound, figured it was just an animal a little way away, I didn’t think it had anything to do with James ‘til the morning when I woke up and saw his tent collapsed and a bit of blood.” Ethan continued on to say, “Melanie was totally freaked, we’d been hearing rumors that the woods were haunted, some said it was a ghost, others a witch, I think I even heard someone say there was a werewolf.”

“That should be all Ethan, thanks so much for your time.” I wrap up the conversation.

He nods zoned out, but gets up to lead us out.

I turn around and stop the door from closing, “It isn’t your fault Ethan, you couldn’t have known.”

Ethan has a look in his eyes of guilt, but wanting to believe my words. Instead of agreeing or denying he just says, “Find him, please.”

I nod and start walking to the Impala.

“Melanie next?” I ask Dean.

“Yeah, I’m getting the feeling those rumors aren’t just rumors, but I need more to go on, hopefully Melanie has that for us.”

“Hopefully,” I whisper.

An hour later we’re back at the motel and walking straight into the bathroom to change into something more comfortable. Dean changes right after me and we all sit down to eat and discuss our findings. Dean and I tell Sam what we discovered from interviewing Ethan and Melanie. 

“Well according to the park rangers working there, like Marvin said, there’s been a disappearance every night this week, and the park opened two weeks ago. There’s never been an attack or disappearance during the day, which leads them to believe it’s some kind of animal that likes to move around at night. But one interesting fact is that there used to be Native Americans who lived there, it wasn’t for long before they moved to Canada. They were part of the Wabanaki tribe. Now I’ve looked into the lore and get this, the Wabanaki tribe believed in a legend about the Skadegamutc (skuh-da-goo-much). An undead vampiric creature also known as a ghost-witch. It is believed that the Skadegamutc are wicked people or witch’s that become this ghost-witch creature when they ‘die’. They don’t stay dead but must feed on human flesh and drink their blood. They can also shape shift into a ball of light in order to scour out the area and find their prey more quickly. They can only attack at night and are vulnerable to sunlight, once dawn breaks they are nothing but corpses.”

“That’s gotta be it considering the ‘ball of light’ Ethan saw.” I said confirming Sam’s conclusion of our monster of the week.

“Dad’s journal say how to kill the sonuvabitch?”

“Yeah, gotta find the corpse during daylight hours and torch it. They’re supposedly immune to normal weapons, have superhuman strength, and can hex or curse people” Sam replied in a tone of finality. 

“Well, it’s only midday, we could go out and start searching, maybe we’ll get lucky and find the SOB, or at least James.” I say hopefully.

“Couldn’t hurt, but we gotta get out of there by dark, no good to James or any others if we become this things Scooby Snack.” Dean stated.

After we all changed into more appropriate attire to hike in the woods in we drove to the new campgrounds. 

“So, I figured we could get a map once we get to the campgrounds and plan a path to search from there.” Sam declared. 

“Sounds like a plan.” I say as we pull into the campgrounds.

We all get out of the car, get a map, and start hiking. 

“So according to Ethan, they were all camping here.” I say pointing to a spot on the map that we were heading towards. “And according to the park rangers, it looked as if James was dragged north until the tracks disappear out of nowhere.” Sam points out on the map after me. 

“Well, let’s head that way and see what we find.” I declare as we trudge on ahead. After walking around a few hours, checking other disappearance areas and finding nothing, we decide to turn around and come back when dawn breaks tomorrow. The sun is setting as we climb up a hill, I’m not horribly far behind the boys but not as close behind as I should be as it gets darker. While climbing up the hill trying to pick up the pace I trip on a root that I didn’t see. I try to catch my balance but instead I fall forward and hit my head on a rock. I remember the sensation of sliding down the hill before everything goes black. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dean’s POV

We reach the top of the hill and I look behind me to check on Sammy and Y/N. I swear I feel my heart stop and drop into my stomach when I don’t see Y/N behind Sammy where she was minutes ago when I last looked behind me halfway up the hill. Sammy reaches the top and looks up at me and notices that something must be wrong and looks behind him.

“Y/N!” Sammy yells out into the woods.

I don’t even think before my feet are running back down the hill we just climbed. I feel sick to my stomach when I reach the bottom and notice a fresh bloodstain on the trunk of a tree.

“Y/N!” I shout with every ounce of air in my lungs. I hear Sam coming up behind me, he has a rock in his hands that also has fresh blood on it.

“She must have tripped and fell back down the hill.” Sam explains with his discovery.

“We’ve gotta find her Sam...” I say with resolve, but guilt and desperation was laced through my soul..

“We will Dean, we will.”

“Where’s the map?”

“Here.” Sam says as he pulls it out of his back pocket and opens it up.

“You got a pen?”

“Uh, yeah, here.”

“Alright, we are here,” I say as I mark down the spot on the map. “James got abducted here,” I mark down the next spot, “and then the other abductions were thought to happen, here, here, and here.” I said under my breath while marking down the spots. The pattern or trail I was hoping to find didn’t exist.

“Damn it!” I shouted in frustration.

“Dean, they said they never recovered any bodies or remains, which means the Skadegamutc had to take them somewhere.”

“Somewhere like a cave or something, something they would think an animal would hide in.”

“Here.” Sam said pointing to the map, “there’s a cave here, let’s check it out and if they aren’t there we’ll check others. We’ll find her Dean.”

“Let’s get moving”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Reader’s POV

When I finally came to a bit later, I was somewhere, dark, cold, and damp. Where ever I was there was a hole at the top letting the full moon’s light in. The movement of my head brought crashing down the memory of my little trip earlier. Through the little amount of light entering the space I’m stuck in I see a shadow moving, I try to get up but I can’t move. I instantly start to panic. Why. Cant. I. MOVE!? Then, what I assume to be the Skadegamutc, appears in front of me. It had long black straggly hair, grey wrinkly and cracked skin, and its eyes were completely black. The last thing I noticed about the monster were its sharp and pointy teeth before it lunged at me, digging its teeth into the crook of my neck. I let out a blood curdling scream hoping Sam or Dean would hear me. Slowly, I lose consciousness, whether it’s from blood loss, shock, or pain I’ll never know. What doesn’t kill you, makes you wish you were dead.

I come to again and try to move again but to no avail. I lean my head backwards against the cold stone I’m propped against. Stuck with nothing but my thoughts for company, suddenly unconsciousness looks like a blessing. Once again, I screwed up, hopefully it’s only my ass that gets hurt because of it. It comes in waves, I close my eyes, hold my breath, and let it bury me. I'm not OK and it's not alright. My mind goes back to that fateful night, the night I couldn’t save her. She was my responsibility. It was just a stupid, little old witch. Because I couldn’t fight hard enough, I couldn’t save my little sister from her. I couldn’t take it anymore. The guilt, the weight of the of the world's getting harder to hold up, all those times I wished I could have taken her place and had her live the life she deserved and I can’t trade places with her. 

One more moment of this silence  
The loneliness is haunting me  
And the weight of the worlds getting harder to hold up

“Ugh” I hear a soft groaning coming a few feet away from me. 

“James?” I croak out.

“Yeah, who wants to know?”

“Oh, thank God. You’re friends, Ethan and Melanie, their torn up about you. My friends and I were trying to find you and potentially save you, but I screwed up. Got hurt. Now I’m here.”

“What is that thing?”

“Trust me when I say you do not want to know. Can you move?”

“No, haven’t been able to since I woke up down here.”

“Great...” I say under my breath.

I heard a rustling sound coming a few feet away and saw the shadow flicker in the light. 

“I think it’s coming to finish me off.” James said, panic rising in his voice.

“Not if I can help it.” I try to reassure him. I see the shadow moving towards James, and prepare myself. 

“Hey fugly!” I shout at it, getting it to at least stop in its tracks. “Yeah you, you piece of shit. Bet you can’t drink me til I pass out without killing me!” I try taunting it. It didn’t really move towards me but it must have used a hex on me because I felt like every nerve in my body was on fire, causing my to let out such a loud scream that my voice broke. When I opened my eyes that I didn’t realize I screwed shut from the pain, the monster was in front of me, staring at me curiously. I took my opportunity to piss it off and spat in its face. Needless to say, it worked. The monster was feeding on me instead of James, and I let unconsciousness take me in its sweet embrace.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Dean’s POV

I heard a scream for the second time and this time it was closer, the first to caves turn out to be a bust, but we were heading in the right direction. I started running as fast as I could will my legs to carry me, until her voice cut off mid-scream. Sam came to a sudden stop behind me and pulled out the map. 

“I don’t get it Dean, it sounds like we’re right on top of her but there’s nothing he-“

“What, what do you see?” I question him quickly. 

“The map has this spot marked but it doesn’t say why.” Sam said looking around. “Dean look, to your left, the tree. I looked where Sam was directing me and immediately saw what he was pointing out, a tree and right in front of it, a hole in the ground. 

“Get ready, that thing is down there and it’s strong.” I say to Sam quietly. 

I quickly and quietly walk over to the hole, listening for any signs of the Skadegamutc. On the edge, I jumped down the hole prepared to torch anything in front of me with Sammy behind me. 

“She needs help.” I male voice croaked out. Looking towards where the sound came from I saw him nod his head forward. “Sammy.” I whisper nodding my head to who must be James. While I looked towards where he directed, quickly dropping to my knees in front of Y/N. 

“Hey.” I say under my breath, caressing her battered face gently in my rough, calloused hands. “Hey there pretty girl.”

I scoop Y/N up in my arms and turn around to pass her to Sam.

“We need to get them out of here, can you two manage?”

“No, Dean, the Skadegamutc must have hexed them with a paralyzing curse or something.” I set Y/N down beside James and boost Sam up through the hole. “Alright, up you go, James.” I whisper to myself. I bend over to pick up Y/N when I heard a rustling sound, quick to the draw I point and start using the mini flamethrower on the monster before it knocks it out of my hands. It chomps down on my shoulder faster than I could blink.

“Sonuvabitch!”

“DEAN!” Sammy shouts, jumping down into the hole and spraying the monster with the flamethrower. The Skadegamutc the released its jaw from my shoulder, and bellowed a ear-piercing screech. 

“Dean?” Sam called to me once the monster was gone.

“I’m fine, Y/N?” I called out, hoping that with the monster destroyed, Y/N would wake. “Y/N!?”

I scramble to Y/N, and check her over and checking her pulse. 

“Sammy, she’s lost a lot of blood, her pulse is there, but it’s weak.”

“C’mon,” Sam says to me, getting ready to boost me up, “James?” Sam shouted.

“Yeah?” I need you to help my brother pull Y/N up!”

“Got ya, I’m ready.” James replies, Sam boosts me up and James helps me up with my busted shoulder. Then Sammy starts boosting Y/N through the hole, and James helped me grab onto her and pull her up through the hole. I get Y/N to the side and I instruct James to put pressure on her wound. I then give Sam my good arm to pull him through the hole. Quickly regaining my composure, I move to Y/N and pick her up and start carrying her to help. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Reader’s POV

When I wake up I hear a steady beeping sound to my right, and can already see the bright, white light through my closed eyelids. The smell of cleaning supplies permeates my nose and makes my face scrunch up.

“Hey sleeping beauty.” Those words, are music to my ears, but also a disappointment. Disappointment in the way that I have to continue on with this guilt with no redemption in sight. I felt like I was drowning, with no hope of ever breaking the surface. I open my eyes to see bright green one with a dust of freckles between them.

“Hey.” I croak out, my voice breaking. Dean reaches with his right hand for the styrofoam cup of what I assume to be water, and brings it to my lips. I slowly sip the water through the straw, quenching my dry, sore throat. 

“Thank you.” I rasp out, scrunching up my face once more, this time in confusion.

“You damaged your vocal chords, lost a lot of blood, but the doctor says you should make a full recovery. James also told us what you did for him.” Dean explained. I nodded my head and sat with him in the silence. I take in his figure, noting his left shoulder in a sling. Before I can ask about it though Dean speaks up again.

“You know I can read you like an open book Y/N. And I’ve noticed you’ve been off your game lately, rushing it, making rookie mistakes, and for a minute I couldn’t figure it out. Then I remembered a conversation from a long time ago. This is around the time your little sister passed about two years ago.” Dean took a pause before he started speaking again, staring at me like he could see into my soul, and he very well could have. I stared down at the hospital floor, suddenly fascinated with the specs against the off-white background.

“It’s not your fault. And I know that you feel like it is, trust me, I get it, I really do. But I can tell you for a fact that she wouldn’t want you living this way, she would want you to live for her and she’d only feel resentment if you didn’t. I will help you fix yourself, dive in when you’re down, save you from yourself, and I won’t let you drown in those thoughts that tell you to give up and drown in your misery, and I will spur your fight to be here, I’ll drag you out alive, if you let me.” Dean spoke softly. I felt the water behind my eyes threaten to spill over.

“Do you really believe all that’s possible Dean?”

“Just because everything’s not alright now, doesn’t mean it will be forever.” Dean whispered to me before kissing my forehead, and for once I drowned myself in something good.


End file.
